The past week has been spent hurtling around a fantastical realm which may, in a place or two, resemble Persia. Ubisoft's latest addition to the Prince of Persia franchise addresses one of the biggest issues I have had with Mirror's Edge: the game seems to know its own identity. Guiding Faith around the rooftops of her dystopian city is by no means an unpleasant experience, but bits of its structure seem at odds with each other. Most of the time, the player in Mirror's Edge is driven by flow and momentum, and at its wallrunning and speedvaulting best, adrenaline does indeed get pumping. In the opposite corner is an exploratory element that tasks you with finding manbags which someone has scattered about the city. The search for these satchels, at least at my current level of progress in the game, bludgeon the aforementioned parkour model by slowing you down. Methodically searching an environment for objects while dudes shoot at me (and trust me, dudes will shoot at you) is not a heart-fluttering thrill ride. I tried to ignore the silly things and concentrate on the running and the jumping and the whatnot, but the explorer buried in my psyche kept prodding my mind with the thought that I have left something undone. Ask my wife how well this feeling sits in my stomach.
Prince of Persia has a heavier emphasis on collecting, since its light seed doodads are the key to reaching new areas rather than an aftertho . . . er, aside for completionists like myself. However, most of them (the early ones, anyway) lie along your travel routes from one place to another, and those off the beaten path take on a puzzle element of sorts as you try to figure out how to get the Prince to them. The de-emphasized combat also means that you can search for light seeds without dudes shooting at you.
Game well this week, and may you face a minimum of dudes shooting at you.
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